For years, open source software advocates have been holding "installfests," gatherings to help others learn how to install and use Linux and other open source applications on computers.

Free software advocates are praising a federal appeals ruling that allows greater protection for open-source software against copyright infringement.

Landini suggest a concept "cultural subsidy". The Open Source rhetoric suggests software to people because it's of higher quality than proprietary software. But how did it ever became so? Because the Free Software advocates worked hard to make it so!

Some would argue that ODF advocates discredit OOXML advocates, but as Jan van den Beld proves, they are almost always paid by Microsoft in some form or another (watch this profile). On the contrary, the vast majority of ODF advocates simply want fair competition and the right to popularise Free software in the office suites market, especially if merits permit this, bar lock-in.

Open source software initially was a head-scratcher: “How can you make money selling something for free?” But once open source advocates clarified the meaning of free – “Free as in speech, not as in beer” – the open source economy took off.

The deal has already stirred up open-source advocates. "If the strategy isn't to create uncertainty around Linux, it's hard to say what it is," said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation.

At the Utah Open Source Conference yesterday I presented a dilemma. Briefly, the idea is that as open-source buyers grow comfortable with open source they will stop spending money on open source. This leads to tragedy of the commons-type problems and a difficulty in encouraging the creation of more open source.

3D computer graphics software refers to programs used to create 3D computer-generated imagery. There are typically many stages in the "pipeline" that studios use to create 3D objects for film and games, and this article only covers some of the software used. Note that most of the 3D packages have a very plugin-oriented architecture, and high-end plugins costing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars are often used by studios. Larger studios usually create enormous amounts of proprietary software to run alongside these programs. But thankfully, there are always free/open-source software alternatives that can help produce highly commendable 3D animations like it did in the short film entitled “Elephants Dream”.

Hard economic times have just about everyone looking for ways to save. Belts are tightening around software budgets -- from ordinary personal computer users to enterprise decision makers, everyone's trying to figure out how they can get what they need for less money. Is this an opportunity for open source software and the firms that support it?